


Gravitale Falls

by imuffinator



Category: Gravity Falls, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Crossover, F/F, F/M, Femslash February, It wouldn't be fun to copy it o3o, It's an Undertale AU similar to the game but with a definite twist, M/M, Multi, also much Pacifica sass because who doesn't need more of that in their life, basically everyone is here, i have to get past the slow intro stuff to get to the fun part so bear with me, it's gonna be a slow relationship development, mabifica, mostly because of the world building for those who haven't played teh game, rating may change as we meet a certain character, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-21 15:10:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6056197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imuffinator/pseuds/imuffinator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pacifica has fallen into the underground. In her search to find a way home, she realizes that there is a lot more that needs to be done before she has a chance to escape. A shadow's looming in the distance killing innocent denizens of the underground, can she stop it before it's too late or will she become just another victim?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recently finished Undertale and Gravity Falls has just recently ended. Both have affected me a lot in such a short amount of time, so I figured, why not do a crossover-esque fic? There are no Undertale characters present, but many of the GF characters have stepped up to fill in roles. They'll be making appearances as they go. 
> 
> P.S. There's a simple cipher in the bottom, think of Julius Caesar... and the magic number. There's a song based off that one in a musical.

There were two things Pacifica noticed when she first woke up.

  
One was that she was lying on the ground, shivering and covered in dirt.The second was that everything was shrouded in darkness and she couldn’t see two feet in front of her.

 

Besides a small path of dirt and a pine tree near her, there was nothing in her line of sight.

 

Pacifica tried to force herself to sit up, but a burst of pain spread through her arms and she felt them give out on her. She bit back a curse and instead angled herself so she could roll onto her back.

 

The motion had allowed her to catch a glimpse of body, her arms were scratched up and the seafoam green dress she’d been wearing had been torn.

 

She must have fallen, she immediately surmised upon seeing the moonlight outlining the hole she’d likely come from. Even in the dark she could see that it had been a long fall, it was no wonder she’d started becoming more aware of the aching of her limbs.

 

_“Are you alright?”_

 

The voice was a lone whisper among the darkness of the area. Pacifica felt every nerve in her body freeze as she heard the distant sound of footsteps behind her. It sounded almost as if the earth was moving to accommodate whatever it was.

 

“ _Y-yeah_ ,” she forced herself to speak. Pacifica frowned at how weak her voice sounded. “I’m _fine_.”

 

 _“You sure? No one’s fallen down here in ages,”_ the voice continued.

 

Pacifica closed her eyes, grimacing as she moved her arm to help her sit up. If she was going to die, she would not do it lying down.

 

“Of course,” she hissed, her Northwest pride showing as she pushed herself up. Her parents had always told her to never be weak even in the face of danger. “If you say that no one’s fallen here in ages, then what does that make you?”

 

There was a moment of silence before the area was filled with laughter. It wasn’t bad laughter, but it made Pacifica uncomfortable. Here she was, in the middle of nowhere, with a stranger who had laughed at a simple question.

 

“Maybe staying at that hellhole would have been a better idea,” she muttered to herself.

 

There was another set of footsteps and for a second Pacifica felt as if she was being watched. Her eyes immediately flickered over to where she thought she’d heard the source, a giant arch loomed in the distance. It seemed to glow a faint purple in the moonlight that illuminated.

 

In response to the sudden sight, Pacifica backed up further away from it, only stopping when she was pressed against the tree.

 

“D-don’t come any closer! I’m a black belt in karate and I sure as hell am not afraid to use that!” She shouted into the abyss.

 

The laughter resurfaced, this time it only served to irritate her.

 

“Is there anything funny about that? I’m not afraid to take a branch from this tree and shove it up your-”

 

The laughter suddenly stopped, Pacifica felt uneasy at the tense vibe that seemed to develop in the atmosphere.

 

 _“I’m not sure you would want to do that. After all, I’m only trying to help you,”_ the voice said.

 

Pacifica shivered, a light breeze had run across her neck as the voice spoke, almost as if it was right behind her. She backed away from the tree and looked around, since she was this far down, there was no way a breeze could have come from that direction.

 

“W-who are you?” She asked.

 

_“Depends who you ask! Some call me a whisper in the night, others, a faceless shadow.”_

 

Pacifica tugged at the hem of her tattered dress. The longer she was down here, the more uncomfortable she felt. The disembodied voice certainly didn’t help her waning sanity.

 

“Haha,   _right_ , well voice that’s most likely in my head, do you know where we are?” She asked.

 

The voice chuckled, while it wasn’t high, she also thought it didn’t sound extremely deep either. It sounded like that of a boy teetering between a child and a teenager.

 

 _“Why, girl , we’re in the underground!”_ The voice said matter-of-factly.

 

“Tch,” Pacifica rolled her eyes. “Well obviously I assumed _that_. If I was above ground, I wouldn’t be talking to you.”

 

She placed her hand on the tree and stood up, only pausing momentarily to let prevent her knees from buckling.

 

 _“Well, isn’t **someone** impatient. We haven’t even introduced ourselves and you already want to touch me.”_ The voice said.

 

Pacifica looked around in confusion, there was no one else with her, unless…

 

She looked at her hand on the tree, her blue eyes widening in horror as she found a pair of beady black eyes staring back at her.

 

Pacifica withdrew her hand and yelped as she staggered back. She cradled her hand against her chest and tried to calm her breathing. It certainly explained why she’d felt the breeze against her neck.

 

“Y-you, you’re _alive_?” She asked the tree.

 

Pacifica observed a misshapen crack beneath the tree’s eyes adjust to produce laughter. She’d essentially been leaning against it, no wonder it had felt like she was being watched.

 

 _“Of course I’m alive! The name’s Piney, Piney the Pine tree,”_ the tree said.

 

“...And I think I hit my head too hard when I fell,” Pacifica murmured in response, she edged herself away and looked back up at the sky.

 

The moon looked farther away than it had when she’d been lying down, it didn’t even look possible for her to climb up. The walls of the hole were completely smoothed out.

 

 _“If you’re thinking of escaping, I’m afraid you can’t do that! Every human that’s fallen down here, well, let me just show you!_ ” Piney said.

 

Pacifica looked at the tree expectantly. There was a flash of light and she suddenly felt her chest grow warm. A faint outline of a heart appeared in the center of her chest before it filled in as a hot pink color.

 

 _“Let me just borrow that for a second,”_ Piney said and Pacifica watched in shock as the heart jumped off of her chest.

 

The motion causing her to gasp in shock and making her feel as if something had been tugged out of her.

 

 _“This heart is your **SOUL**!”_ Piney said. _“Aka the very culmination of your being, yadda yadda. You start off weak, but you can get stronger if you-”_

 

“What the hell? Put it back! I never said you could take my soul,” Pacifica frowned, she placed a hand on her hip and used the other reach out.

 

There was a slight rustling of the pine tree’s leaves as if it were shaking his head. Piney sighed, for a moment Pacifica saw a flicker of something darker in their face.

 

_“Like I was saying before you kindly interrupted me. Your soul begins as a weak, but with something called LV which stands for love, you can strengthen it.”_

 

“ _What_? If you think I’m gonna fall in love with you, it’s not gonna happen, buddy. I’m sure I can do better than a pine tree,” Pacifica grumbled.

 

 _“As I was **saying** ,_” Piney said, an undertone of irritation growing in its voice. _“You can strengthen your soul by getting love. Lucky for you, you don’t have to love me to get it.”_  
  


“Thank god,” Pacifica interjected.

 

 _“Down in the underground, we share love with what I like to call,_ ” Piney paused, there was a burst of light and upon its fading, Pacifica saw herself looking into a arc of glowing spheres. _“Friendliness pellets! You can control your soul with your mind or you can-”_

 

“Put it back.”

 

_“Wait, what?”_

 

“I said put it back, you stupid tree.”

 

Piney’s smile shook, deep down Pacifica knew she had probably made a horrible mistake in irritating this being, but at the same time she didn’t care much for his explanation and wanted to leave.

 

_“Alright… I’ll put your soul back in your body, but whenever it lights up, know that you have to get ready to fight with i-”_

 

“Right, right, get LV, and then I’ll be stronger, anything else?”

 

_“The friendliness pellets!”_

 

“Yeah, with the ‘pellets’, I’ll get the LV, just let me-” Pacifica approached the arc of lights and reached her arm up to grab them. “They’re a bit high, can you get them to me?”

 

“ _Yeah, just let me_ -” Piney narrowed their eyes, the pellets began to spin and gradually began to lower.

 

 _This is definitely going to be too easy._ Pacifica smirked.

 

She immediately regretted her statement the second the first pellet hit her. Pacifica gasped in pain and retracted her arm as if she’d been shot.

 

At least, that’s what it had felt like. She’d been so in shock from the first hit, that when the other three hit, she felt her legs give out on her.

 

“ _You **stupid** blonde. In this world, you _T̸̝̫̗̭̟̙͞R̷̸͙U̡̼̯͙͕̺̕S̻̥̞͔̱̳͠T̸̟̝̦ ̵̷̶͚̣̦̞̙̲N͢҉̘̣̜O̸̝̪̺͍͚̫ͅ ̥̹̭̻̼͓̕͞O̭̖͖͓͓N͞͏̼͉̲̤͙̖̖E͍̜̫̬̙͔̭.” Piney said, its voice altering into a pitch that sent tremors down her spine. “ _It was fun while it lasted, but I could only take **so** much of that **snarky** ‘ttude.”_

 

Pacifica eyed the pine tree in horror, its facial features had morphed to match its voice. It was a creature she would only ever hope to see in a nightmare. Why hadn’t she just shut up and listened?

 

_Though the way this stupid tree talks, it looks like he would have killed me anyway._

 

“D̵̴̪̦͕̙ì̙̭̗̺̰̕͝e̷̩͈̤͎ ** _._** **”** Piney said as a circle of white bullets appeared around her.

 

Pacifica clutched at her chest and eyed the rapidly shrinking circle surrounding her. With her heart beginning to race and blood rushing to her ears, Pacifica barely heard Piney began to laugh. It was a raucous, grating sound that she was sure would permanently be etched into her soul.

 

Just as she’d given up hope and closed her eyes, a faint whooshing sound swept through the area. Pacifica’s eyes burst open, the circle around her was gone. Upon further examination, she saw that Piney looked extremely confused.

 

The confusion lasted momentarily before a burst of flames flew past her and knocked the tree into the shadows. There were heavy footsteps behind her and she tensed.

 

“Oh you poor kid, sorry you had to be greeted by that **beast**.”

 

Pacifica turned to look at her savior, he would have looked like an ordinary human, except he was around eight feet tall and had a pair of goat horns protruding from his head.

 

“Don’t be afraid, my name’s Stanley Pines, but you can just call me Grunkle Stan or something, I dunno, whatever’s easier for ya kid.”

 

“Alright, Mr. Pines, where exactly are we… and who was that?” Pacifica asked.

 

The goat-man fiddled with the sash around his neck, it had a symbol of a fish looking thing eating a circle.

 

“There’s not much I can say about that creature, but I am the caretaker of the ruins. It’s been ages since someone’s fallen,” he said, a wistful tone encompassing his voice. “We hoped they’d be the last, but- Never mind that, come on, we should get out of here. There’s much to do and too little time.”

 

“A-alright,” Pacifica replied feeling as if she had more questions than had been answered.

 

Stanley held his hand out to her, she only took it because she feared her legs wouldn’t support her in standing up.

 

“Let’s go, I’ll explain everything about the ruins as we proceed. Stay close, I don’t want you getting lost, lest the beast decides to return.”Stan said, he let go of her hand and walked through the giant gateway that loomed in front of them.

 

Pacifica nodded, but peered back at where she’d been. She took one quick glance at the world she had left behind and shivered.

 

Even though Piney was disposed of, she couldn’t shake the sensation that she was still being watched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WKH JDPH KDV VWDUWHG, WKH WLPH LV QLJK, FRPH RQ JXBV, MRLQ WKH ULGH.


	2. Pursuing This Further

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really enjoying this AU. I'm starting to understand how I want it to go, so bear with me with updates. I have a test tomorrow, so that should stall anything until after that. So I hope you guys like this.
> 
> Cipher of this is the same as the last.

The ruins were damp and smelled like something had died in them. 

It took every part of Pacifica’s focus to keep her from throwing up. She only refrained from doing so, as she was not fully sure whether to trust the stranger in front of her or not. 

Stanley was quiet for the most part, only providing her with tidbits of information about her whereabouts. 

The longer they walked, the more she felt like there were eyes watching her from the shadows. Pacifica narrowed her eyes at the goat man, she wished he’d be more help, but she hadn’t learned much in the half hour she’d been with him.

“Are we there yet?” She asked.

“Geez kid, we just walked up a flight of stairs, not much further and we’ll reach the first puzzle. There I’ll show you the basics of the underground,” he said. 

“Alright, if you say so,” she grumbled in response.

A quick look around the ruins showed that they were in a dimly lit corridor. Further inspection showed a panel of buttons on the floor and a closed gate. 

“In the underground, everything is ruled by puzzles,” Stanley said, he walked over to the panel and zigzagged through. He then walked over to the lever next to the wall and pulled it down, there was a click and the gate in front of them opened.

“Come on,” he said and walked into the doorway. 

Pacifica remained silent and trailed after him, her eyes momentarily lingering on the puzzle. 

“Pfft, doesn’t seem too hard to figure out,” she muttered to herself.

In the next room, she saw that there was another narrow corridor. Stanley looked down at her, a warm smile on his face.

“Here’s your first challenge, along the path there’ll be a set of switches. The ones you need to flip are marked. I’ll meet you down the hall, so, if you’ve done it correctly, we should be good to go.”

"Wait, is that it?" She asked him, but the goat man walked on without her.

Pacifica rolled her eyes and took the time to survey her surroundings. There was a sign directly in front of her, she walked up to it and read it.

[Press ‘Z’ to read signs]

“Is that supposed to be some sort of joke? What the hell does that even _mean_?” She grumbled to herself while backing up. From the beginning nothing in this stupid cave seemed to even add up.

Pacifica walked over to the small bridge that connected the platform she was on to the other.

It was either the glow of the torches or something up with her eyes, but everything in the room seemed to be a shade of purple, save for the running water and occasional vines on the cavern walls. 

Pacifica tentatively began to onto the other platform and turned to face the first switch, her eyes peering around in case she was being tricked. As she finally worked up the nerve to approach it, she looked back at Stanley. The goat man had not moved from his position, instead he seemed to be eagerly watching. 

Pacifica pressed it, there was a momentary pause before she heard it click.

She let out an irritated sigh. Was that really it?

Pacifica made her way to the next switch. If the second one didn’t do anything impressive, then she would- _Click_.

There was a harsh grating sound, Pacifica looked over just in time to see the wall of spikes that had been barricading the exit sink into the ground.

“Alright, great! Onto the next one!” Stanley said, he turned around and walked off into the unknown.

“Oh.My.God, this is going to take forever,” Pacifica groaned.

She entered the new room and nearly jumped out of her skin when the goat man approached her from the side.

“As a human in the underground, you may be attacked-”

“Old man, don’t you know not to scare people? If I died, I would _so_ have sued you,” she told him and crossed her arms.

Stanley’s eyebrows raised, his eyes which had been wide in surprise, narrowed and for a moment Pacifica saw a deep sadness in them that made her wish she hadn’t lashed out at him.

“I…I’m sorry,” she told him.

“Don’t worry about it, kid. I’m used to it,” Stanley replied, he fiddled with his spectacles and walked over to the lone dummy in the room. “Just so you know now, you will be attacked once you’re down here. Especially because you’re a human.”

He turned to look at her as if expecting her to cut in, Pacifica bit her lip and instead remained silent as she approached him.

“I want you to practice with this dummy. If you were to be attacked, what would you do?” He asked her. Stanley smiled at her, the weariness of time highlighting the wrinkles on his face. “The hint I will give you is to stall for time. Scam ‘em out of it, be persuasive. If you do that, I’ll step in and take care of the rest.

Pacifica looked between Stanley and the dummy.

 _Here goes nothing._ She thought to herself and stood in front of the dummy.

Her chest warmed up again, and she watched as the heart outline appeared in the center of her chest again. Unlike last time, the hot pink figure remained.

_What did that stupid tree say? That I can control it with my mind? Alright, let’s see what we can do._

The motion of her heart jumping from her chest caught her off guard, though since she had experienced it once before, it was not as bad this time.

 _Alright, Pacifica. You can either Fight, Act, use an Item, or Mercy. Wait what do those even mean?_ She shook her head and looked back at the dummy. _Well, it’s a dummy isn’t it? So I just have to hit it right?_

Pacifica reeled her arm back and punched the dummy as hard as she could. She watched in shock as it’s form wavered like a glitch before it evaporated into thin air.

There was a moment of shock in the air before she felt something wrap around her waist. Her feet left the ground and a fist buried itself in her hair, the motion she immediately recognized as a noogie.

“What’re ye’ doing, you _knucklehead_? Dummies are for talking, not punchin-ahhhhh,” Stanley said with frustration lacing his voice.

“Alright, ow, I’m sorry, that hurts, cut it out,” she told him while trying to remove his arm from around her waist.

Stanley plopped her down and Pacifica immediately worked to try to fix her hair.

“Is it…dead?” She asked him, they both stared at the place where the dummy had been.

“No, maybe, I don’t know. Just-” Stanley let out a low sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Listen kid, you don’t wanna hurt anything down here. Doing that… well, it changes you and sometimes the change is irreversible.”

“What does that mean?”

Stanley sadly smiled at her and shook his head. Instead of speaking, he motioned toward the next door and walked through.

“Alright, just leave me here, alone with more questions than answers,” Pacifica grumbled, she looked back at the area where the dummy had been and felt a sinking feeling deep in her gut.

“Um, hey, dummy. I’m sorry that I probably killed you. If you’re still lingering here, I hope you can forgive me,” She said to no one in particular.

The area remained silent, not like she’d been expecting a response, but Pacifica felt stupid. She tried to shrug off the feeling, but when she left the room, she certainly felt like it had been the right decision on her part.

The next room looked similar to the prior corridor, except this time there was no water or vines. Pacifica looked around in hopes of finding the next puzzle.

She eventually glanced at Stanley for clarification, but he seemed to stare off into the distance.

“What’s next, Mr. Pines?” Pacifica asked him.

The goat man blinked quickly as if he were remembering that he was there and then back down at her.

“Oh, this puzzle’s an easy one. Just remember what I told you before and it’ll be a cinch,” he said and quickly made his way down the hall.

Pacifica shrugged and took off after him. The hall wound a little bit, she saw Stanley waiting by the end. She had almost reached him when a small garden gnome dressed in a frog suit leaped in her path.

 _Great, here we go again_. She thought to herself.

The hot pink heart outline appeared once more, the gnome wiggled in place as it waited for her action.

 _Fighting is a no-go with this one._ _So… if we talk to it we can, either check him out, compliment him, or threaten him. Why the hell would we complement a gnome?_ She glanced over at Stanley and then back at the frog. _Alright, we’ll do it for that stupid dummy._

“Hey… Gnome, that frog suit is actually kinda cute, I guess.”

The Gnome looked at her in confusion, she was sure it hadn’t understood her, but the blush around its cheeks told her that it had probably been flattered anyway.

“What, come on, get out of here, shoo!” Stanley walked between the two of them, the gnome dashed away and left. “Ugh, those things, I swear, those gnomes win one turf war and they suddenly think they own the place. I have to talk to Steve because this is ridiculous.”

“Off we go, make sure you read that plaque by the way, reading’s important,” Stanley said and made his way to the end of the hall.

Pacifica opened her mouth to retort, but immediately shut it. There was no point in fighting with the goat man, if he got upset at her, he could easily leave her behind in the ruins. Instead she followed his instructions and read the plaque.

[The Western Room is the Eastern Room’s Blueprint]

 _And what the hell is that even supposed to mean?_ _Whatever, I’ll get to it when I get to it._

Pacifica trekked over to Stanley, at the end of the corridor, there was a path of spikes.

“This is the puzzle,” he said, his voice was low, as if he were deep in thought. Pacifica looked at him as he glanced down at her. “Take my hand, I’ll guide you through it.”

Pacifica looked at the offered hand and then back at the goat man.

_To take a mysterious goat man’s hand or to not, that’s the question. Ugh, what would my mom say? Actually, she’d probably just be pissed because I messed up the new dress I got._

“I ain’t got all day, kid,” Stanley said.

“Ugh, _fine_.”  
  
Pacifica took hold of his hand and trailed after him as he walked through the spike path. She wondered if the path had to be walked on a certain way or if this was a way of teaching her false confidence. Either that or he really was being nice, the path had zigzagged a lot and had been a bit much to follow.

“That puzzle would have been a bit much for ya, kid. Now, let’s keep moving,” he said.

Once they reached the end, Stanley let go of her hand and walked on and into a new hallway.

“You’ve done great, kiddo. Here’s a real puzzle though, give me ten seconds and then make your way down the hall by yourself. I know you can do it.”

“Wait, what is that supposed to mea-” Pacifica didn’t get to finish her question as the goat man’s stride allowed him to disappear down the hall before she had a chance to.

“Stupid ruins with their stupid paths. These aren’t even real puzzles,” Pacifica bitterly remarked to herself.

Unlike the other corridors, this one was a bit longer, she was sure she was supposed to feel a bit worried since her guardian had left her, but she also wouldn’t be surprised if he was watching her from somewhere.

Her suspicions came true once she neared the end of the room and spotted a giant white column. Right behind it was the unmistakable form of the goatman and his tailored dress. She walked past in order to humor him, but he then ran out and in front of her.

“Ah, see, I knew you could do it, kid!”

“Knew I could do what? You haven’t left my side the whole time, I was sure you’d be here somewhere,” she interjected.

Stanley’s eyes widened, the look on his face a mixture of wonder and recognition. It remained for a second before he cracked a smile.

“You’re right. I was behind this pillar the whole time, but look at you, you saw through the scam from the beginning,” he chortled.

Pacifica watched the old man laugh away and felt a smile tug at her lips, the first of which she’d really felt since she’d fallen into this hole of misery. Stanley laughed for a few more seconds before he cleared his throat and allowed himself to become serious again.

“The importance of that test was to test your independence. But seeing as you’re good at detecting deception, well,” Stanley smiled again, and reached over to pat her head. “I really do have to be going right now. I’ve got some stuff to do, but it looks like you can handle yourself well.”

“Wait, you’re leaving me?” Pacifica asked, even though she didn’t want them to, she knew her eyes were reflecting the fear that was starting to rile itself up in her gut.

Stanley’s smile teetered between that of sadness and a false happiness. Pacifica noted that he settled for false happiness as it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Trust me, I wouldn’t do it if I felt like I didn’t have to, but you- you’re not a child. Not a completely innocent one at least,” he said.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m like _almost_ an adult. I’m 17,” she told him.

Stanley nodded and faced away.

“A child bordering adulthood, but is yet still a child. You’re not the first to come here at that age,” he said almost wistfully.

Pacifica wriggled uncomfortable at the sudden drop of cheeriness in the atmosphere. Stanley reached into his pocket before producing a phone. She was sure her eyes almost fell out of their sockets when she saw him holding it out to her.

“I’ll lend you this cell phone so you can contact me while you’re in the ruins. If you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask, alright?” He said.

Pacifica gingerly took the phone and examined it. She’d heard of flip-phones, but she never thought she’d see one in her life. She bit back a sarcastic comment about how Stan had to get with the times and smiled gratefully.

“Alright, thank you,” she forced herself to say instead.

“Be good, alright?” He told her.

Pacifica nodded and waved as the goat man sprinted out of the corridor. She stared down at the phone in her hand and then at the tattered outfit she was wearing.

“Well, at least it matches,” she grumbled and made her way into the new room.

On her way in, she saw piles of rose petals littering the ground and another gnome wearing a frog suit wiggling by one of the doorways.

She saw that the path split and decided that she would investigate the upper one before making her way near the farther one. As she did so, her phone went off. She made the sliding motion on the top lid, but soon felt embarrassed when recalled that it was not a smartphone.

“How the heck do you use this thing?” she muttered to herself.

The phone continued to ring as she tapped the screen for the answer button. The call dropped and Pacifica groaned with frustration.

“Great, no smart phones and _wonderful_ devices from the stone age, _exactly_ what I need,” she muttered angrily.

_“Press the green button.”_

Pacifica looked up and glanced around.

“Who is that?” She asked, her eyes wildly darting around until they landed on the gnome. “Was it you?”

The gnome stared at her, its eyes wide in fear at her anger. Pacifica frowned and looked back up.

_“When it rings, press that button with the phone on it, you insufferable brat."_

Pacifica felt a nerve in her temple throb in anger.

“Alright, _who_ said that? I will _sue_ you for talking to me that way,” she shouted.

“ _Just trying to help, don’t shoot the messenger, but if you don’t feel like being an ungrateful git, buy something from our bake sale! We’re having a sale on donuts and cookies.”_

“What?”

Her question went unanswered as the phone began to ring again. Pacifica flipped it open and found the button which the voice had told her to press. She did so and watched as the call connected.

“ **Hello, kid? I just realized that I forgot to tell you something about the puzzles you’re gonna face.”**

Pacifica glanced around the room, it was then that she saw a giant spider crawling out of the room and out of the corridor.

“ **If you get stuck, don’t be afraid to ask for help. That’s what I’m here for.”**

Pacifica didn’t even get to thank him before the goat man ended the call. She had a momentary staring contest with the frog gnome until it croaked out, “Please have _mercy_ on me” and she felt too weirded out to continue.

Upon her entrance into the room, Pacifica found a sign on the floor that said “Take one.” She looked up and found herself facing a beautifully crafted marble pillar surrounded by shards of what had once been a beautifully painted bowl.

What she could take one of, she’d probably never find out, but guessing by the wrappers on the floor, Pacifica presumed it was candy.

“Well, I guess someone’s greedy, oh well, I don’t need the extra carbs anyway,” she said as she threw the sign away.

As Pacifica left the room, she turned back to peer at the pillar. Nothing about the scene had changed, it was still broken as it had been before, but on her way out, she found a sealed wrapper on the floor.

Pacifica looked up at the pillar and bowed her head in thanks before she pocketed it.

 

* * *

 

_“Hey, that wasn’t so hard.”_

…

_“ **No, it really wasn’t! I mean, once you figure out the mechanics, it was easy to see you just had to walk across.”**_

**_…_ **

**_“_ ** _Stanley seems like a good monster, too. He didn’t have to help, but he did.”_

_…_

_“ **Yeah… he seems like he really cares. Hey…which do you like better anyway”**_

**_…_ **

“ _Hmm?”_

_…_

_“ **Butterscotch or cinnamon?”**_

**_…_ **

_“Why not both? Best of both worlds, baby.”_

_…_

**_“Haha, yeah, I guess you’re right. I wonder why he asked that…”_ **

**_…_ **

_“AH, here’s another puzzle room. Get ready.”_

_…_

**_“Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”_ **

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WKHB VDB PBVWHULRXV IODVKEDFNV PDNH WKH ZRUOG JR URXQG. LV WKDW WUXH?
> 
> Last message was: THE GAME HAS STARTED, THE TIME IS NIGH, COME ON GUYS, JOIN THE RIDE.


	3. Legend of the Emo Ghost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you made it to chapter 3, huh? Thanks for sticking around this long, buddy. It's been interesting and it's about to get even more interesting. Chapters don't always go the way we want them to, but we think officially that around Chapter 4 is when things should finally start to diverge a bit more.

“ _Robbie, Robbie, Robbie. Haha, it’s such a silly name.”_

_“ **Yeah, I guess. If I had a name like Robbie, well, it’s not really that weird. Though ghosts are already depressing but he was… mega depressed.”**_

**_“_ ** _I wonder if he’s always been down in the ruins… must get lonely.”_

_“ **Who knows. Who cares. I just wanna get out of here and go home.”**_

**_“_ ** _But, what if we can find him someone to love! That’s always a ride and a way to cheer ‘em up.”_

_“ **How about we don’t mess with what we don’t kno-“**_

**“** _OH look! That’s where the spider bake sale is! C’mon, let’s get some.”_

_“ **Ugh, fine.”**_

 

Pacifica was _so_ done.

Had she been wearing heels, she would have been aggravated the moment she’d stepped into the ruins, but she’d worn flats to the party, so she’d been tolerant.

Unfortunately, after stepping through puddles and god-knows-where-they’ve-been leaf piles, they felt too uncomfortably tight and disgusting on her feet.

Who knew that the rocks in this place were also sentient beings?

Pacifica blew strands of hair out of the way of her eyes and groaned.

The stupid rock had been in the right spot, but then it had moved. Her patience was already waning, but if she hadn’t needed it she probably would have thrown it at the wall of spikes.

She was _so_ not dressed for _this_. But it wasn’t like she’d expected to drop down into a hole in the middle of the woods. She’d just wanted to get far away enough from her parents to cause a scene, not fall and be… wherever _here_ was.

“There has to be an end to this shithole eventually,” she muttered to herself as she entered the new room. Right past the pillar, she could see another gateway. “Please, please, _please_ be the end.”

She stepped forward through the pile of leaves separating her from the gateway, but paused when shiver ran up her spine. Her foot suddenly felt extremely cold, though the rest of her was warm.

_What did I just step in? Don’t tell me I stepped in a slime or something._

Pacifica prepared herself mentally as she willed herself to glance down. There was a translucent grey eye peering up at her. Well, more like, some lean transparent ghost boy was staring at her …and her foot was going right through his stomach.

“Oh my _god_ ,” she squeaked and lifted her leg as high as she could. “W-w-what _are_ you?”

“Uh, I’m a ghost, duh,” he said.

He remained in his position, effectively blocking the entire path.

“Well, I’m trying to get through, so can you move or something?”

“Nah, I don’t think so,” the ghost said, he raised his arms and brought them up behind his head.

“So you’re just going to lay there all day?”

“Yuup.”

Pacifica sighed.

“ _Great._ ”

She sat down behind the ghost and pulled out her phone. She had no reception down here, but she figured she’d kill time playing a game. It’d certainly give her a moment to rest her feet.

“You’re not gonna force me to move or anything?” The ghost asked.

“ _Nah, I don’t think so,”_ she mimicked him and hunched over her phone.

“…So you’re gonna stay over there even though you wanna get to the other side?”

“ _Yuup.”_

“…Wow, I didn’t see that coming.”

Pacifica’s eyes flickered over at the motion in the corner of her eyes. The ghost had sat up, even though he was mostly transparent, the logo in the center of his hoodie was clear. It was a broken heart painted red that was stitched together.

“You’re weird,” he told her.

 _And you’re an emo ghost_. She wanted to retort, but kept it in her mind instead.

Pacifica rolled her eyes in response then didn’t bother keeping them off of her phone.

“Seriously, you’re not going to do anything?!” The ghost huffed.

“I mean, what’s the point? Unless I step through you or something, I’m obviously not getting through. I felt that once and I’d rather never feel it again,” she told him.

“Geezus, you’re nothing like those other kids that came here ages ago. I’ve been lingering around hoping for fun, but you won’t even- ugh, what’s wrong with kids nowadays,” he grumbled.

“Hey, I’m _not_ a kid, I’m almost 18,” she hissed at him.

Blue eyes met grey, the boy cracked a smirk.

“Well, I’ve been alive for 18,000 years… or more, so you’re like an _infant_ ,” he said in response.

Pacifica glared at him and crossed her arms, the ghost boy imitated her.

“Can you stop that?” Pacifica snapped at him.

“ _Can you stop that?”_ He mimed her.

“Ugh, alright, I get it. Sorry for copying you.”

The ghost smirked, the smug grin on his face made Pacifica wish she could smack him.

“Okay, yeah, whatever, but seriously, can I get through? I don’t think I can last as long as you, humans don’t really work the same as ghosts.”

The emo ghost’s smile wavered, he flipped the bangs over his eyes and frowned. He stroked his chin, even the mercy of death hadn’t spared the boy from acne. Pacifica stifled a laugh.

“Well, I guess we can sort something out. Let’s play a game,” he told her.

The ghost boy stood up and began to float. The heart sign on his chest began to glow, Pacifica could feel her own chest warm in response.

“Ugh, not this again,” Pacifica groaned.

The hot pink heart outline filled in and popped off of her chest. It had begun to float in the air as the ghost began to speak.

“Aaalright, since we’ve just met, I think it’s only fair that we begin a formal introduction,” he said and raised his arm to point it directly at his chest. “Name’s Robbie, Robbie V.”

 _Alright, Pacifica, remember, no fighting. Fighting’s bad._ She thought to herself. She did _not_ want to be on the receiving end of another Stan noogie and she was _sure_ that he was watching her from somewhere.

“Robbie V? Is that supposed to be like some sort of punk boy’s wannabe stage name?” Pacifica smirked.

“Hey, the chicks dig it, alright?” Robbie told her, if he were human she _knew_ he would have been blushing.

“What chicks? From what I gather, it’s just you and a pile of leaves.”

That seemed to strike something in the ghost boy, Robbie’s shoulders drooped and he grabbed at his left arm.  

“W-well, what do you know? You just got in the ruins,” he told her angrily. Robbie lifted his arms and positioned them as if he were holding a guitar. “Let me play you some of my sick tunes and then maybe you’ll reconsider.”

As he strummed his arm downward, a flurry of music notes appeared in the air. Pacifica watched them float momentarily before they started to shoot toward her.

 _If they’re anything like those stupid bullets from earlier- Let’s not find out._ Pacifica thought as she ducked underneath a wave of them.

There was a wave of three, so she had to duck, jump, and then slide to the left to avoid them.

“Is that the best you can do? _Puh-lease_ , the tree did a better job than you,” she taunted him as the attack hit the ground.

The faint odor of ectoplasm permeated through the vicinity. It seemed that not only would they have hurt, but she probably would have smelled like goo if she had let herself be hit.

“Oh, this is just the beginning, blondie,” he said, he strummed up in down in a consecutive pattern before letting out a screech. “ _WaaaaAAAAAHHAAAAH.”_

The flurry of music notes appeared again, this time launching themselves at her in the shapes of letters. First a Y, which she managed to duck under, and then a D that she avoided by jumping in the middle.

_Oh yeah, flats, definitely not the best in this situation._

Three ideas then popped into her head.

Flirt, Cheer, and Threaten.

Well, she’d already basically been teasing him and she sure as hell was not going to flirt with him.

_Why would I need to cheer him up though?_

“You said that there were other kids down here before? Did they actually enjoy your music?” She asked.

“Uh, _yeah_ , they’re the ones who got me to-“Robbie paused, his arms dropping again.

“If there’s something that I can like, help you with, maybe-”

Robbie wistfully smiled to himself. “Heh…”

A wall of words appeared between them.

**_[Really not feeling up to it right now, sorry.]_ **

_Great, I upset Casper. **Exactly** what I need at this moment._

“Look, I know that we don’t know each other, but whatever those kids did, I’m not like them. So If you just let me through, I’ll leave you here so you can mope in eternal peace or whatever.”

Robbie curled up into a floating ball. “Heh… heh.”

There was a pause. Pacifica looked around, the attack should be somewhere so where?

There was a drop of something cold on her arm before the pain set in. She looked up, her eyes widening in shock when she took notice of the aerial attack.

The tears dropped down in the shape of an N and then an E.

She stumbled out of the way before the rest hit her, but like a raincloud trailing its victim, the tears followed her. Pacifica knelt down and covered her head, the tears pelting her arms instead of hair.

Even though they’d taken most of the damage, she _knew_ that some of the goo had landed on her head.

Pacifica peered up at the floating heart, it was currently half full. Was that how much time she had left before she- Pacifica frowned.

That was it, no more nice Pacifica.

“Alright, _Robert_ , I know that you did not mess up my hair on purpose and you got really upset for some reason that I don’t quite understand, but is there something I can do to help you?”

“…endy,” he muttered.

“What?” she asked.

The faint whooshing sound of the next attack’s appearance alerted Pacifica to the fact that it was coming from the side this time.

She found herself facing a giant W.

“W? Wait, those were spelling out something weren’t they?” She said and glanced at him in hopes of stalling his attack.

A beady grey peered up at her from the ghostly cocoon.

“Did someone hurt you? Did their name start with a-”

Pacifica didn’t finish, she didn’t get to. The W slammed into her and before she knew it, everything became extremely cold.

“AGH,” she cried out and dropped to her knees.

It was so cold.

_Too cold._

Pacifica huddled into a small ball. How was it possible for it to be so cold? It had been uncomfortably warm before.

“W-w-who d-d-did it, R-robbie?” She asked once more, her eyes roaming up to look at the ghost.

He had completely unfolded from his ball and was looking at her in shock.

“You didn’t even try to dodge it,” he murmured.

Pacifica forced herself to try to stand. Her hair was ruined and it was this stupid ghost’s fault and all she wanted to do was kill him dead, but he was already dead so that wouldn’t do anything.

“I-i-is this how you f-feel? C-cold and alone?”

“Don’t come any closer!” Robbie shouted.

“Who h-hurt you, Robbie?”

_Goddamnit, what were those letters? W… E…D and Y?_

_Weedy? Maybe it’s marijuana._

“W-was it W-wee,” Pacifica shivered and looked up. A wall of tears separated them, knowing the previous range of attacks, they’d probably start shooting at her.

Robbie sniffled, the wall dissipated and the ghost boy dropped to his knees. The hot pink heart, which was now ¼ of the way full, floated in the air for a second before darting back straight into her chest.

Pacifica gasped as the warmth seeped back into her system.

“W-wendy!” he cried out.

_Okay, maybe I was just a little off._

“W-who’s Wendy?” Pacifica asked as she reached out to wipe a load of goo from her hair and worked to regain her voice. “ Is she the one who hurt you?”

Robbie clutched at where his heart was. …Did ghosts have hearts?

“She was… my ex. Those kids they… they introduced us, but they-” Robbie looked up at her. “Blondie, can you find out what happened to them?”

“Okay first of all, my name’s not blondie, it’s Pacifica. Second of all, who are they?”

“Pacifica? That’s a weird name.”

“It’s not like Robbie V is a normal one either,” she hissed back.

“Hey, I thought we were comforting me,” he growled back.

Pacifica rolled her eyes, she felt like she’d been doing that a lot lately. “Yeah, yeah. So what happened with Wendy?”

“I... I wrote her a song.”

“Was it that bad that she dumped you?” Pacifica asked.

Robbie glared at her as she shrugged.

“It was a curious question, it’s been known to happen,” she muttered.

“I wrote her a song… and well, we were having a rough time. Her dad was pushing her to join the King’s Army and …she did. It doesn’t help that I’m a ghost, I can’t hold her or anything,” he sighed.

Robbie placed his hands on the patch of rose petals beneath him. His bangs covered his eyes as pale tears streamed down his cheeks. It was the picture of teenage angst.

Pacifica wanted to take a picture of it, but refrained from doing so. She knew she had to go over there and comfort him. She had to.

People did it in movies all the time. The thing where they put their arms around the person and they did it back.

…A hug.

She slowly treaded over to the sobbing ghost.

It was her fault he was crying. She was the one who had brought up his past in hopes of ending their match.

Once she’d reached him, she stopped.

“Wendy,” Robbie continued to cry.

“Robbie, if I know anything about broken hearts and exes, it’s that the best way to keep moving forward is to ignore it. Show them that you’re better than them. Then, you can rub it in their face when you’re all happy and have a better Gucci bag than she does,” she said and reached over to give him a light pat on the head.

“But I’m never going to find love again,” he cried and lifted his face. Pacifica cringed at the sight of ghostly boogers dripping down his nose. “Who’s gonna love a ghooooost.”

“No one if you keep this up,” she snapped at him. “Listen, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. So I could honestly bullshit something to make you happy for a moment, or tell you some real stuff that’s gonna help you out.”

Robbie sniffled, Pacifica ignored the dripping booger and continued.

“You’re not going to get anywhere if you keep holding on to Wendy. Only reason you haven’t found anyone is because you’ve been in these ruins forever. Get out of here! Tan if you can!”

Her eyes looked around in hopes of something else that could help. She spotted a sign in the distance that said [Spider Bake Sale].

“Here, hold on a sec,” she told him and ran toward the hall.

The room was covered in spider webs. In fact, she saw the giant spider from earlier looming in the center of one of them.

“So, you finally decided to come and buy some treats, huh? Took ya long enough,” the gnome in the spider suit told her.

“Whatever, what does 100 get me? That’s enough for a cookie or something, right?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s enough to get you- yup, one cookie! Actually, we only have donuts,” the gnome told her.

“Alright, give me the donut.”

The spider gnome handed her a donut, Pacifica took it and placed it down in front of him.

“Okay, thanks,” she said as she turned around and went to leave the hallway.

“Wait, what is this green stuff, hey blon-” The gnome shouted, but she had already left the room.

“Robbie, here’s a donut!” She said and held it out to him.

Robbie looked at her and then at the donut.

“Is this…supposed to be some sort of joke?”

“No, we’re supposed to be sharr-ing or something. I’ve seen people do it in movies,” she said matter of factly.

“You mean sharing?”

“Sharring, sharing, potato, potatoe, same thing. Now do you want this donut or not?”

“Oh…thanks,” he said and reached out for it.

Pacifica watched, with some awe as the donut half that he held onto turned translucent. Perhaps it was something in the donut that allowed ghosts to have it too.

“Do you want the other half? It’d probably heal you up a bit since I kinda banged you up,” he said.

“Err, I’m not so sure I should-“

“Trust me, if you find any unfriendly foes in the ruins, you’re gonna wanna be healed up.”

“…Okay then.”

Pacifica broke the donut in half, Robbie lifted his and said ‘cheers’ before biting into it. She looked down at her end tentatively, through the sugary sheen, the donut looked like it was covered with spider webs and dirt.

 _Oh, if only mom could see me now._ She smirked and raised the treat to her lips.

Pacifica bit into it. She had been right about the dirt, it mixed with the sugar and tasted weird. Though it was one rebellion she had against her parents and she’d gladly take that.

“Thanks again, Pacifica,” Robbie said.

“Don’t mention it, really don’t. These donuts weren’t that great,” she replied, her nose wrinkling in distaste as she buried the rest of the piece under the rose pile.

“O’really? I think they gave it texture.”

“Well, you’re a ghost, so-“

“Touche,” Robbie said and shoved the rest of the donut piece into his mouth.

Pacifica stood up and brushed the dirt off from her knees.

“Well, I guess I’ll be moving on now.”

“Yeah, but hey, if we meet up on the topside… Don’t be afraid to drop by if you’re anywhere near Waterfall,” Robbie smiled, it wasn’t forced and it wasn’t the happiest, but Pacifica could feel his gratefulness. It was…weird.

“No problem, see ya around, Robbie.”

The ghost gave her a small salute before he floated up and through the ruins. Seeing him go, Pacifica felt a bit sad. Perhaps she could have convinced him to say so she wouldn’t be alone.

She let out a low sigh and looked at the open pathway.

On to the next stage of the ruins.

 

“ _Robbie, this is Wendy. We met her in the Hot Lands. She was tryna kill us, but she’s pretty chill.”_

_ U-uh, hi. _

Hey yourself.

**_Do I have really have to witness this awkward flirting? C’mon dude, you’re like 18,000 years old. I’m like 17982 years younger and even I have more game than that._ **

_ Shut up, kid. If I was alive, you’d **so** be getting a knuckle sandwich right about now. _

Knuckle sandwiches, hm? Mind sharing one with me? Let’s see what you’ve got, dude.

_ U-uhhh… _

_“I can feel the blossoming of true love right here.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WKH IODVKEDFNV DUH LPSRUWDQW, L VZHDU. WKH YRLFHV WKDW DUH VHHQ, EXW QRW KHDUG DUH WKH RQHV WKDW VSHDN WKH ORXGHVW.
> 
> The previous cipher said:  
> THEY SAY MYSTERIOUS FLASHBACKS MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND. IS THAT TRUE?


End file.
